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Police station bids opened at city meeting

At Tuesday morning's City Commission meeting, nine bids were opened and read for the construction of the new police station. Some area media outlets reported on Tuesday afternoon that there were ten bids, but the total of nine was confirmed by city staff.For each bid, the base bid was noted as well as how many days the project would run. Although businesses from McAllen, Lubbock and Midland submitted bids, a few of the companies are located within the Metroplex.The base bid price extends from $3.5 million up to $4.79 million. The shortest time period for the work to be completed came in at 300 days, while the longest date submitted was anywhere from 365 to 395 days.After the bids were read, it was announced that the bids would be reviewed and graded on a scoring system. The heaviest factor would be the price, but other items would be part of the system.Once the bids were examined and reviewed--within the next sixty days, a recommendation would be made. Sweetwater City Manager Eddie Brown stated that, if necessary, a special-called meeting would take place for the measure.The meeting on Tuesday was the second attempt by the city to obtain bids. The first round of bids were opened at the September 2013 meeting, but it was announced at the meeting held in October 2013 that the prices--ranging from $5.3 to $6.7 million--came in higher than expected and were rejected.Discussion on a new police station has been taking place since December 2012, when the city signed a contract to work with Wiginton Hooker Jeffry Architects, P.C. toward a new police station. Preliminary concept plans for the new station were presented to the City Commission in February 2013, but the plans were amended toward the latter part of the year, resulting in a project totaling around 15,000 square feet with only one floor level.